Ice making machine and breaker



ICE MAKING MACHINE AND BREAKER Filed Oct. 24, 1963 i hi I-+ 11": "T l lg i W 2 i l i I I 1 1 i LE E I \ll\ fawarddflozzylas I l William F.ihgen.

Joseph 1? Miller Boberi' [.Pzchier United States Patent 3,246,481 7 ICEMAKING MACHINE AND BREAKER Edward 0. Douglas, 5335 W. 131st St.,Crestwood, Ill.; and William F. Hagen, 1220 N. State Parkway; Joseph P.Miller, 5114 S. Wood St.; and Robert L. Richter, 3230 S. Princeton St.,all of Chicago, Ill.

Filed Oct. 24, 1263, Ser. No. 318,560 2 Claims. (Cl. 62-320) Thisinvention relates to an ice making machine and more particularly to amachine of the type described which produces ice in substantially largesheets, and means for reducing the sheets of ice into pieces or chunksof smaller dimension for domestic use.

It is an object of this invention to provide an ice making machine ofthe type described which operates to freeze water applied onto thesurfaces of vertically disposed freezer plates to form the ice intosheets on the surfaces thereof and from which the sheets of ice cansubsequently be removed for reduction into pieces of smaller dimension,and it is a related object to produce a machine of the type describedwhich operates to remove free water and snow from inclusion with thepieces of ice thereby to provide ice which has a lesser tendency toagglomerate or form into masses from which the separate pieces are noteasily separable.

These and other objects and advantages of this machine will hereinafterappear and, for purposes of illustration but not of limitation, anembodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawing inwhich' FIG. 1 is a sectional elevational view of an ice making machineembodying the features of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the ice breaking portion whichforms a part of the ice making machine; and

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the ice breaker portion of the machineshown in FIG. 2.

An ice breaking machine of the type employed in the practice of thisinvention is adapted to form sheets of ice by the flow of water over theouter surfaces of vertically .disposed freezer plates and from which thesheets of ice can be released by termination of the freezing cycle andinitiation of a warming cycle wherein water below the freezing point isapplied to the back side of the freezer plates to effect separation ofthe sheet of ice formed on the front side thereof. The sheets of icereleased from the plates fall gravitationally downwardly onto an iceslide which guides the sheets into engagement with a breaking rollerthat operates to reduce the sheets of ice into pieces of smallerdimension. Means are employed in combination with the ice slide andsheet breaker to effect separation of free water from the sheet prior tobreakage and to effect separation of snow or small chips from the piecesproduced upon breakage of the ice sheets.

Referring now to FIG. 1 of the drawings, the ice machine employs one ormore vertically disposed flat metal plates having an outer surface 12over which water is i applied, as by means of a-water pan 14 havingopenings 16 in the bottom side through which streams of water drain intothe angled surface of a deflection plate 18 having its lower end formedas a continuation with the upper U 'end of the freezer plate. Instead ofapplying the Water in the freezing surfaces 12 of the freezing plates 10to reduce the temperature of the plates to below freezing. As a result,when water is caused to flow over the surfaces 12 of the plates 10, thewater is cooled to a freezing state whereby an ice layer 24 ofincreasing thickness builds up over the outer surface of the freezingplate. Initially, while the plate is being reduced to freezingtemperature and during the initial portions of the freezing cycle, onlya slush will be formed on the freezing surfaces but such slush is washedoff by the oncoming water ultimately to present a clean surface on whicha solid cake or sheet of ice can be formed.

Adjacent the back side of the freezing plate or plates 1% and extendingcrosswise along the upper end portion thereof, is a distributor pipe 39having a plurality of openings or nozzles positioned to direct streamsof water onto the back side of the freezing plate or plates whereby warmwater is cast onto the back sides of the plates for flow downwardly overthe surface to warm the plate or plates and effect separation of the iceformed on the front side thereof.

The lower end portion of the freezer plate or plates is formed with aninwardly extending portion 32 which terminates in an end that is invertical alignment with a water trough 34 whereby free water flowingdownwardly across the surface of the plate 10, including the water inexcess of that reduced to a frozen state in forming the cake 24, followsthe contour of the plate 32 for displacement inwardly into the trough.The water applied onto the back side of the plate 10 for warming theplate also flows downwardly for draining into the collecting trough.

The water collected in the trough will include some of the refrigerationinvested in the separation and the removal of the sheet of ice and itis, therefore, desirable, from an economical standpoint, to utilize thecold water collected in the trough by recirculation pump 36 through line38 to the distributor pan 14.

In operation, the refrigerant cycle is first initiated to circulaterefrigerant through the coils 22. The plate 10 is thereby reduced intemperature to below 32 F. for freezing water. Water from thedistributor pan 14 or from the spray pipe 20 is applied onto thedeflection plate 18 for flow in uniform distribution over the freezingsurface 12 of the freezing plate 10. Slush at first forms on thesurfaces but the slush is washed off as the ice begins to plate out onthe freezing surface of the freezing plate. The cycle'is continued for alength of time until an ice layer 24 of the desired thickness is builtup on the surface of the plate. In operation, water in excess of thatcapable of being plated out on the freezing surface is applied for flowacross the plate. The excess Water flows downwardly over the plate tothe lower end portion where surface tension operates to deflect the flowinwardly along the plate 32 for drainage of the excess water into thetrough 34. f

When an ice layer of the desired thickness has been built up on thesurface of the freezing plates, the refrigeration cycle is stopped andthe ice removal cycle is initiated by the flow of water into thedistributor pipe 30 whereby a warming water is thrown onto the back sideof the freezer plate 10. When the plate is warmed sufliciently to reducethe ice at the interface to a molten or liquid state, the sheet of-icewill be released to fall downthe released sheet of ice can fallgravitationally straight downwardly clear of the trough and onto the iceslide 40 which extends angularly downwardly across the path of the sheetof ice falling from the freezer plate to guide the sheet across the topside of the slide towards the ice bin 41.

The slide is formed with a breaker bar 44 which extends crosswise of theslide immediately beneath a breaker device 46 in the form of ahorizontally disposed cylindrical member 48 mounted for rotationalmovement about a horizontal axis with the cylindrical member beingprovided with a plurality of circumferentially and laterally spacedapart rigid fingers 50 extending outwardly from the 'cylinder by anamount to provide a spaced relationship between the ends of the fingersand the breaker plate 44 which is less than the thickness of the icesheet adapted to be displaced therebetween. Thus the fingers broughtinto contact with the ice sheet operate to effect breakage of the sheetinto ice chunks of smaller dimension. The cylindrical member 48 isrotated by means of motor driven belts operating about sheaves 52 andthe fingers are preferably angled in the direction of rotation toadvance the sheet of ice and effect displacement of the crushed piecesfor continued passage over the slide into the bin 42.

Since a certain amount of free water remains on the surfaces of the icesheets, it is desirable to effect removal of such free water beforedisplacement of the crushed ice into the storage bin, otherwise the freeWater may become congealed to cause agglomeration of the pieces of iceinto large cakes or other mass which would interfere with the free flowof the broken ice for use. The free water can be removed before or aftercrushing but it is preferred to effect removal before the ice sheet isadvanced to between the crusher plate and the crushing cylinder. Forthis purpose, the portion of the slide immediately in advance of thecrushing plate is formed with openings, preferably in the form of ahoneycomb section 54, with the openings of the honeycomb extendingvertically to communicate the upper surface with an open channel 56below the slide for the drainage of water from the sheet of ice throughthe openings into the channel.

The crushing operation usually produces some snow or small chips whichit is desirable to remove to efiect separation from the chunks deliveredas a product to the bin since the snow or chips are undesirable as apart of the final product and since they often lead to the formation ofpieces of ice into a solid mass in the bin. of the ice chips and snow iseffected by providing the portion of the ice slide following the crusherbar with openings through which the chips and snow are able to fall intothe channel section 56 beneath the slide. Such open portion can beformed of a structurally strong section, such as a honeycomb section 58formed of metal in which the honeycomb openings extend through from thetop side of the slide to the bottom side for communication with thechannel section.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, a water pipe 60 communicates with the channelsection 56 at one end for intermittent or continuous flow of watertherethrough to flush the snow and ice chips from the channel section.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that we have provided an icemaking machine which is adapted economically and efliciently to producesmall chunks and pieces of ice which will remain capable of free flowduring storage for domestic use.

.It will be understood that changes may be made in the Removal detailsof construction, arrangement and operation without departing from thespirit of the invention, especially as defined in the following claims.

We claim:

1. In an ice making machine having vertically disposed freezer plates onwhich a sheet of ice is formed and from which the sheet is released tofall downwardly gravitationally, means for breaking up the sheet of iceinto segments of smaller dimension including an ice slide extendingangularly downwardly continuously in one direction across the path ofthe sheet of ice falling from the freezer plate, means in anintermediate portion of the ice slide for crushing the sheet of ice intosmaller segments, said ice slide having a section immediately in advanceof the crushing means having openings extending therethrough for thedrainage of free water from the ice sheet which passes thereover and asection immediately following the crushing means having openingsextending therethrough for the separation of snow and ice chips from thecrushed segments of ice which pass thereover, a receiver on theunderside of the ice slide in communication with openings in the sectionin advance of the crushing means and the openings in the sectionfollowing the crushing means, and means for flowing a stream of waterthrough the receiver to flush the snow and ice therefrom.

2. In an ice making machine having a vertically disposed freezer plateon which a sheet of ice is formed and from which the sheet of ice isreleased to fall downwardly gravitationally, means for breaking up thesheet of ice into segments of smaller dimension including an ice slideextending angularly downwardly continuously in one direction across thepath of travel of the sheet of ice falling from the freezer plate, acrushing means including a stationary crusher bar fixed to anintermediate portion of the ice slide to extend crosswise thereof and acrushing member in the form of a cylindrical member mounted forrotational movement about an axis parallel with the face of the slideand in vertical alignment with the crushing bar, crushing fingersextending radially outwardly from the periphery of the cylinder for adistance short of the crusher bar but spaced from the crusher bar by anamount less than the thickness of the ice sheet whereby the ice sheet isbroken into segments of smaller dimension during passage therebetween,and a section immediately in advance of the crusher bar having openingsextending therethrough for drainage of free water from the ice sheetprior to crushing and over which the ice passes, and a sectionimmediately following the crusher bar having openings extendingtherethrough for the removal of snow and small chips of ice from theproduct delivered from 'the crusher bar a receiver on the underside ofthe ice slide in communication with the openings for receiving the freewater, ice and chips passing through the openings and means for passinga stream of water through the receiver to flush the snow and icetherefrom.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS ROBERT A, OLEARY,Primary Examiner.

1. IN AN ICE MAKING MACHINE HAVING VERTICALLY DISPOSED FREEZER PLATE ONWHICH A SHEET OF ICE IS FORMED AND FROM WHICH THE SHEET IS RELEASED TOFALL DOWNWARDLY GRAVITATIONALLY, MEANS FOR BREAKING UP THE SHEET OF ICEINTO SEGMENTS OF SMALLER DIMENSION INCLUDING AN ICE SLIDE EXTENDINGANGULARLY DOWNWARDLY CONTINUOUSLY IN ONE DIRECTION ACROSS THE PATH OFTHE SHEET OF ICE FALLING FROM THE FREEZER PLATE, MEANS IN ANINTERMEDIATE PORTION OF THE ICE SLIDE FOR CRUSHING THE SHEET OF ICE INTOSMALLER SEGMENTS, SAID ICE SLIDE HAVING A SECTION IMMEDIATELY IN ADVANCEOF THE CRUSHING MEANS HAVING OPENINGS EXTENDING THERETHROUGH FOR THEDRAINAGE OF FREE WATER FROM THE ICE SHEET WHICH PASSES THEREOVER AND ASECTION IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE CRUSHING MEANS HAVING OPENINGSEXTENDING THERETHROUGH FOR THE SEPARATION OF SNOW AND ICE CHIPS FROM THECRUSHED SEGMENTS OF ICE WHICH PASS THEREOVER, A RECEIVER ON THEUNDERSIDE OF THE ICE SLIDE IN COMMUNICATION WITH OPEN-